Andre Bassuet
North Kingstown, RI
www.andreleebassuet.com
IG: @andreleebassuet

Baring Han
2023
Cyanotype on used tablecloth and embroidery
42” x 50” hung / 19″ x 12″ x 5″ boxed

Artist Statement

I wanted to explore the idea of the book as an interactive, wearable dress. Clothes hold intimate memories and are vessels of personal biographies. This hanbok (Korean traditional dress) is made from used tablecloth printed with cyanotypes of chrysanthemum flowers as well as writings in Korean and English. Chrysanthemums are used to symbolize love, devotion and loyalty and are often used to represent beauty, grace and elegance. Yet blue chrysanthemums are also associated with death and mourning and are seen as a symbol of grief and loss. Using flowers as a a metaphor and identity, they represent the Korean women who have suffered Han under the patriarchal social system. Women were expected to work as housekeepers, raise children and be servants to the men. The dress has pockets with generational stories of my grandmother, my mother, my sister-in-law and a forgotten sister, playing with the idiom “to be in one’s pocket” or under one’s influence and control. My chrysanthemums have embroidery that mimic blood dripping and they look like flowers fiercely baring their teeth. They represent the anguish and suffering and the urge to take revenge.